More layoffs to come at Cetera?

After cutting an unknown number of employees earlier this year, Cetera Financial Group, the broker-dealer and registered investment advisor giant, is expected to make more job cuts at some time this year, according to industry sources.

“There were layoffs at Cetera in January but there’s more to come this year,” said one senior industry executive who does not work at Cetera and spoke confidentially to InvestmentNews about the matter.

“These cuts in staff don’t seem to indicate any problems at the firm,” said another senior industry executive with knowledge of the layoffs at Cetera. “Cetera has been on an acquisition binge, so these layoffs seemed likely to happen in the near future, regardless.”

With the broad stock market in decline at the start of 2025, on top of the uncertainty caused by President Trump’s global trade and tariff battles, some large financial advice firms appear ready to cut staff and potentially reduce costs.

Morgan Stanley in March was considering cutting close to 2,000 employees, according to a report by Bloomberg News. And Edward Jones in March also said it was cutting home office workers at its St. Louis headquarters as a result of a companywide restructuring.

InvestmentNews reported last year that Cetera had 2,400 employees. A company spokesperson did not comment about the exact number of employees that had been laid off but in an email characterized the cuts as a “small reduction in our workforce.”

Cetera Financial Group, with close to 12,000 financial advisors who work with more than $545 billion in asset under administration and $235 billion in assets under management, has recently seen some significant changes that would make job cuts for home office staff seem inevitable.

First, Cetera, which is backed by private equity investor Genstar, has recently been buying large broker-dealers, creating overlap in back office jobs such as technology, compliance and marketing.

For example, in September 2023, Cetera said it was buying Avantax Inc., with close to 3,000 financial advisors who focus on clients' taxes, for $1.2 billion in an all-cash deal. Earlier that year, Cetera completed its purchase of the wealth business of insurer Securian Financial Group, bringing on board more than 91% of Securian’s advisors and nearly $50 billion in client assets.

Prior to that, in 2021, Cetera acquired the brokerage and advisory assets of Voya Financial Advisors, which had close to 900 advisors and $40 billion in assets at the time.

Owning a handful of large broker-dealers creates overlap in jobs and staff, industry observers noted. Meanwhile, Fidelity veteran Mike Durbin to be CEO of the holding company, and a year later Durbin had replaced longtime broker-dealer network CEO Adam Antoniades.

Industry news website CityWire reported the job cuts at Cetera last week.

“This decision was not made lightly,” the Cetera spokesperson wrote. “It reflects a thoughtful shift in priorities as we focus on areas where we can deliver the greatest impact—accelerating innovation, expanding support for our advisors, and enhancing the overall client experience. There was little to no impact on advisor-facing roles.”